Machine for forming fruit and berry basket top binding-strips.



G KLANG'. MACHINE FOR FORMING FRUIT AND BERRY BASKET TOP BINDING STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6. I9!!- Iatented Jan. 28, 1919.

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APPLICATION FILED FEB- 6.I9I1- 1,292,802. Patented Jan. 28,1919.

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G. KLANG. MACHINE FOR FORNHNG FRUIT'AND BERRY BASKET TOP BINDING STRIPS.

APPUCAHON HLEU FEB. 5 1917- 1,292-,802. Patented Jan. 28,1919.

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G. KLANG. MACHINE FOR FORMING FRUIT AND BERRY BASKET TOP BINDING STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-6.19M-

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

m! Mann; "nu co. PNOIO-urnm WAxmNcmm u c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAF KLAN G, 0F TROPICO, CALIFORNIA.

MACHINE FOR FORMING FRUIT AND BERRY BASKET TOP BINDING-STRIPS.

Application filed February 6, 1917.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GUSTAF KLANG, a citizen of the United States,residing at Tropico, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Machine for Forming Fruit andBerry Basket Top Binding-Strips, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a machine for forming the binding strips ortin rims for berry boxes out of strips of scrap tin.

In can factories, berry box factories and other factories where sheettin is used, there is usually a waste strip of irregular width left fromeach sheet that is cut and such strips are wide enough to make berry boxbinding strips or rims.

An object of this invention is to provide a machine into which narrowstrips of scrap tin or other sheet metal may be fed by an inexperiencedperson without any likeli-' hood of misforming the pieces by reason oftheir being improperly fed into the machine. That is to say, the scraptin which this machine is intended to operate upon may be of differentwidths and of different lengths and the finished binding strip for theberry boxes is required to be of practically uniform width, but may beof various lengths. The machine is adapted to cut the irregular stripsto a uniform width and to fold them longitudinally along their midwidthto a U-shape.

In actual practice in a berry box factory sheets of tin are fed to amachine which cuts and folds the tin rims and this machine always leavesan unfinished last strip from each sheet. Such strip is usually taperingfrom end to end, but the narrow end is wide enough to make the requiredfold.

An object ofthis invention is to trim this strip to uniform width and tofold and finish it ready to be used in forming a berry box rim. Thismachine is not intended to make more than one finished strip from ascrap. An object is to insure against admitting a second strip until thepreceding strip is folded and expelled.

Further objects, advantages and features of invention may appear fromthe accompanying drawings, the subjoined detail description and appendedclaims.

The invention includes the machine herein described and 'i'arious partsand combinations of parts going to make up the same.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the inven ion,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Serial No. 147,021.

Figure is a top plan view of a berry box rnn machine embodying theprinciples of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmental cross-section on line indicated at Figs. 1, 5 and8, through the upper part of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a front end elevation as indicated by the feathered arrows 3in Figs. 1, 5 and 8. The parts are shown in non recelvmg position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmental elevational detail, partly in section on lineindicated at w, Figs. 1, 5, and 8, and showing the trimmed strip feedrollers without a strip between them.

Fig. 4 is a fra'gmental detail, analogous to Fig. 4 and showing therollers holding a trimmed strip between them, and thereciprocatingfolder blade moved upwardly andinto contact with the strip.

Fig. i is analogous to Figs. 4 and 4 and shows how a strip that has notbeen fed past the rollers is being bent and pushed out upwardly betweenthem by the reciprocating folder blade.

Fig. 5 is a fragmental side elevation as indicated by the featheredarrows 5 in Figs. 1, 3, 1' and 6,- and partly sectioned on line m, Fig.1.

Fig. 6 is a fragmental elevation, partly in section, on line 00, Figs.1, ,5 and 8.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of parts of the strip foldin device asshown in Fig. 6.

F ig 8 is a side elevation from the side opposite that of Fig. 5 asindicated by the feathered arrows 8 in Figs. 1 and 3.

Fig. 9 is a detail of a,guide finger mountmg.

Leading features of my berry box rim strip machine are the intermittentscrap feeder 1, the scrap trimmer 2, the trimmed strip feeder. 3, andthe strip folder 4, mounted and timed in operative relation to eachother upon the stand 5 and driven from the shaft 6.

The details of the intermittent scrap feeder 1 are as follows:

The feed table 7 is rigidly mounted in a horizontal position and has afiat upper feed surface 8 and a wedge-shaped ledge 9 extends upwardly atone side of this feed surface, and a wedge-shaped feed gage 10 isslidingly mounted upon the feed surface 8 against the diagonal face ofthe ledge 9 and held adjustably in place by set screws 11 passingthrough a slot in the ledge 9 and screw-seated in the gage 10, so thatby ma nipulating the set screw 11 the feed face 12 of the gage may bemoved laterally upon the feed surface 8. The scrap tin strip 13 isplaced upon the feed table with a straight edge against the feed gageand is held by the operator until the machine takes hold. This occursinstantly in practical operation. The spring pressed guide fingers 14are bars swingingly mounted upon the feed table top upon vertical pivots15, and extending in diagonal lines so that the free ends of the" barswill drag against one edge of the strip, and press the other edgethereof against the feed gage, as the strip moves into the machine; asto the left in Fig. 1. An outer friction roller 16 is mounted andrecessed into the top of the feed table 7 with its periphery extendingjust above the surface 8 and in the line of travel of the tin strip 13.

The bottom of the fingers 14 are seated in recesses 14 in the top of thetable so that the edge of the strip will not work under the fingerswhich are pressed toward the gage 10 by springs 15' adjustably supportedby the pivots 15.

The intermittent feed roller 17 is mounted upon the shaft 18 and locatedin opposition to the roller 16 so as to draw the strip 13 be tween therollers, when the feed roller 17 is operated for that purpose. A bearingbracket 19 extends from the stand 5 and carries a pivot 20. A swingingbearing frame 21 is mounted upon the pivot 20, and the shaft 18 ismounted in this frame so as to move the feed roller 17 to and from theanti-friction roller 16 as required to grip or not grip the strip. A camlever 22 is connected at one end to the frame pivot 23 and carries ananti-friction roller 24 at the other end, and a link 25 connects thelever 22 to the swinging frame 21. The roller 24 rests and runs upon thecam 26; three-quarters of the periphery of said cam 26 being the highline 27, as required to hold the feed roller 17 elevated, andone-quarter of said periphery being the low line 28, as required tolower the feed roller 17 to grip the strip 13.

A belt pulley 29 upon the shaft 6 drives the feed roller 17 through thebelt 30 running over the guide pulley 31 to the pulley 32 upon the shaft18, and over the belt tightener pulley 33. The cam 26 is fixed upon thecam shaft 34 and the cam shaft 34 is connected to the driving shaft 6 bythe bevel gears 35 and 36.

The details of the scrap strip trimmer 2 are as follows:

The trimmer bearing block 37 is mounted vertically and rigidly upon thestand 5 and the horizontal arms 38 extend from the block 37 and supportthe second trimmer bearing block 39. The lower cutter shaft 40 and theupper cutter shaft 41 are mounted in the bearing blocks 37 and 39 inhorizontal parallel positions crosswise of the machine washer 43 isplaced against the shoulder 42,

and parallel with the feed roller shaft 18, and equal distances aboveand below the level of the face of the feed table 7. A shoulder 42 isformed upon the shaft 40, a

70 a feed or guide roller 44 is placed against the washer 43, a cutterdisk 45 is placed against the feed roller 44, a washer 46 is placedagainst the cutting disk 45, and a nut 47 is screwed upon the end of theshaft 40 against the washer 46 to hold the cutter tight, the feed roller44 being of slightly less diameter than the cutter 45. A shoulder 48 isformed upon the shaft 41, a washer 49 is placed against the shoulder 48,a second cutting disk 50 is placed against the washer 49, a guide roller51 is placed against the cutter 50, and a nut 52 is screwed upon the endof the shaft 41 to hold the cutter tight, the second cutter 50 co-actingwith the first cutter 45. The gear 53 fixed upon the drive shaft 6drives the gear 54 fixed upon the lower trimmer shaft 40 and the gear 54drives the gear 55 upon the upper trimmer shaft 41. The opposite end ofthe lower shaft 40 from the cutter 45 is screw-threaded to form theadjusting screw 56 projecting beyond the bearing block 39, an adjustingnut 57 is seated upon the screw 56 against the bearing to pull thecutter 45 against the cutter 50 as required to make tight fitting theshearing edges, the cutter 45 being outside of the cutter 50, and a jamnut 58 fits against the adjusting nut 57. The shaft 41 extends not quitethrough the bearing block 39. The flanged adjusting nut 59 is secured tothe bearing block 39 by screws 60. The adjusting screw 61 is seated inthe nut 59 against the end of the shaft 41 and a jam nut 62 fits uponthe screw 61 against the nut 105 59, and the head 63 serves as a handlefor manipulating the screw so as to move the cutter 50 toward the cutter45.

The width of the finished strip 13 cut from the scrap strip 13 may beregulated 110 to a nicety by adjusting the cutters to move the cuttingline relative to the feed gage 10, and the path of the finished stripmay be varied by adjusting the feed gage and cut ting line. The finishedportion. of the scrap 115 tin passes between the periphery of the cutter50 and the periphery of the guide roller 44 as required to feed andguide. the strip in its path, and the waste cutfrom the tin scrap strippasses between the periphery of 120 the cutter 45 and the periphery ofthe giiide roller 51. The scrap tin may be more or less wavy or bent upand down and this combination of guide rollers and cutters may be set toflatten the tin, hold it firm 125 and pass it along.

The details of the trimmed strip feeder 3 are as follows:

The vertical bearing blocks 64 and 65 have overlapping ears 66 throughwhich a pivot 130 bolt 67 is inserted and rigidly fixed in the stand 5so as to pivotally mount the bearing blocks in vertical parallelpositions a short distance back of the trimmer 2, the lines ofoscillation being to and from each other and crosswise of the path ofthe strip, and the extent of said oscillation being comparativelyslight. The tie bolt 68 is inserted through an ear 69 on the bearing 64and through an ear 70 on the bearing 65, at a point above the pivot 67,and a nut 71 on the outer end of the bolt adjusts and limits the spreadof the bearings. An expansive spring 72 is inserted between the bracket73 and the bearing 64 to steady the bearing and'to cause it to oscillatetoward the path of the strip, and a retractile spring 74 is insertedbetween the lugs 75 and 76 upon the bearings to pull the bearingstogether, thus also causing the bearing 65 to oscillate toward the pathof the strip. The shafts 77 and 78 are mounted in the bearings 64 and65, said shafts being connected together by the gears 79 and 80, and abevel gear 81 on the lower end of the shaft 77 meshes with a bevel gear82 upon the countershaft 83 having a spur gear 84 meshing with an idler85 meshing with the driving gear 53, so as to run the shafts 77 and 78continuously with the drive shaft 6. The feed rollers 86 and 87 arefixed upon the upper ends of the shafts 77 and 78 upon a horizontallevel to engage the edges of the flat tin strip so as to drive saidstrip along a guideway 96 provided therefor, and the feed rollers carryupper circular retaining and folded strip driving rims 88 and 89projecting toward each other, to engage the sides of the folded tinstrip to drive the same on .along the slot 95 between the rigid folderedges 97, 98. Adjusting nuts and lock nuts 90 and 91 upon the shafts 77and 78 rest upon the bearing blocks 64 and 65 and form thrust bearingsto adjust the level of the rims relative to each other and to maintainthe proper level in the machine. The axes of the feed rollers 86 and 87are substantially vertical and the plane of the finished strip to bepassed along is horizontal so that the rollers engage the edges of thestrip.

The pivot 67 connected to the bearing block 64, 65, is arranged at oneside of the guideway, being considerably below the horizontal plane ofsuch guideway, so that the rollers may oscillate toward and from eachother transversely. Said pivot is spaced from said horizontal plane ofthe guideway a considerable distance so as to minimize the oscillationof the bevel gear 81, so that such oscillationwill not interfere withthe engagement of the bevel gears 81 and 82.

The details of the strip folder 4 are as follows The folder frame bars92 andv 93 are mgidly mounted upon the stand in horizontal parallelpositions so as to form the vertical longitudinal slide-way 94 and thenarrow slot 95 extending upwardly from the slideway, and the tin strippath or guideway 96 extending the length of the slot 95 in parallelismtherewith and across the slot, the path 96 being on a level with thefinished tin strip as it comes from the trimmer, and said path leadingthe tin between, through and beyond the rollers 86 and 87. It should inthis connection be noted that the action of the springs 72 and 74 isonly sufficient for the proper feeding of the strips through therollers, and that the strips will I not buckle or be otherwise deformedon account of an excessive pressure of the rollers, so that binding ofthe strips in the guideway previous to their reaching position forfolding is thus prevented. The rigid folder edges 97 and 98 which formthe sides of the upper part of the slot 95, are carried by plates 99 and100 secured to the frame bars 92 and 98 and cover the path 96 from eachside to points in vertical alinement with the slot 95. The roller rims88 and 89 are recessed up into the plates 99 and 100, so that the rimswill not interfere with the travel of the tin in the path. Thereciprocating folder head 101 fits in the slideway 94. The pivot shaft102 is mounted horizontally longitudinally in the stand 5 parallel withthe cam shaft 84, said pivot shaft and said cam shaft being on oppositesides of and below the folder head. The cam levers 103 and 104 aremounted upon the pivot shaft 102 and extend crosswise of the machine andhave rollers 105 and 106 riding upon the cams 107 and 108 carried by thecam shaft 34, so that the lovers vibrate as the cam shaft rotates. Thelevers 103 and 104 are connected to the folder head 101 by adjustablerods 109 and 110, so that the head reciprocates up and down as themachine runs. The folder blade 111 is carried by the folder head 101 andextends through the slot 95, so that as the head reciprocates the bladepresses upwardly at the center of the finished strip and presses thestrip upwardly against the plates 99 and 100 and then presses the tinbetween the edges 97 and 98 thus folding the strip to an invertedU-shape in crosssection and discharging the folded finished strip 112upwardly out of the machine. By adjusting the gage 10 and the cuttingline of the trimmer the path of the trimmed strip may be nicely adjustedrelative to the folder blade, so as to bend the strip exactly in center;that is to say, along the longitudinal axis thereof. The parts may bereadjusted to change the width of the strip.

As is best shown in Fig. 3, the folder-operating positions of the cams107 and 108 on the shaft 34, relative to the scrap feederoperatingposition of the cam 26 on the same shaft, are such that the folding ofthe trimmed strip 13 will not occur until the strip is entirely in thepath of the reciprocating folder blade 111. Fig. 5 shows the strip 13 ashaving passed the grip of the feed rollers 86 and 87, but, although thisposition of the strip preparatory to the folding operation is mostdesirable, a slight variation therefromis immaterial, since the blade111 is sufficiently long to provide for a contingency of this kind, sothat, if for some reason the trimmed strip has not been fed past therollers 86 and 87 the folderblade will simply push upon the stripbetween the rollers, which yield to such pressure owing to the action ofthe springs 7 2 and 7 1 and allow the strip during the bending operationto pass upwardly between the rollers, as is most clearly illustrated inFigs. r and 4.", whereafter the strip is finished and pushed outupwardly, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

The roller faces at 86, 87 serve to engage the edges of the fiat tinstrip to advance it along the guideway 96, and the rims 88, 89 performthe same oflice for the folded tin strip; so that the rollers act on thestrip, when the same is either folded or unfolded, as the case may be.

Since the rims 88, 89 are of greater diameter than the rollers proper at86, 87 it is evident that when the rollers are rotating and engaging thefolded strips, such strips are always driven at a higher speed than arethe flat strips, thus insuring against any possibility of the fiatstrips overtaking or jamming the folded strips.

I claim:

1. In a machine for trimming and folding thin strips of sheet metal, aguideway extending in a plane longitudinally from the cutting mechanismof the machine to a reciprocating folder; feed rollers rotatable inbearings mounted upon a common pivot at one side of the guideway so thatthe rollers may oscillate transversely to the guideway; and means forcausing the feed rollers to engage the opposite side edges of the stripswithout buckling or otherwise deforming the strips, so that the stripsare thus passed longitudinally in the guideway to the reciprocatingfolder.

2. In a machine for trimming and folding thin strips of sheet metal, aguideway extending in a plane longitudinally from the cutting mechanismof the machine to a reciprocating folder; feed rollers rotatable inbearings mounted upon a common pivot at one side of'the guideway so thatthe rollers may oscillate transversely to the guideway; and resilientmeans for causing the feed rollers to engage the opposite side edges ofthe strips without buckling or otherwise deforming the strips, so thatthe strips are thus passed longitudinally in the guideway to thereciprocatin folder.

3. In a machine or trimming and folding thin strips of sheet metal, aguideway extending in a horizontal plane from the cutting mechanism ofthe machine to a vertically reciprocating folder; feed rollers rotatablein bearings mounted upon a common pivot below the guideway so that therollers may oscillate transversely to theguideway; and means for causinthe feed rollers to engage the opposite si e edges of the strips feedrollers to engage the opposite side edges of the strips without bucklingor otherwise deforming the strips, so that the strips are thus passedlongitudinally in the guideway to the reciprocating folder.

5. In a machine for folding thin strips of sheet metal, the combinationwith means forming a guideway for a strip of tin and also forming a slotextending in parallelism with the guideway, the longitudinal planes ofsaid guideway and slot intersecting each other, of means tointermittently move the strip along the guideway, and a folder bladereciprocating in said slot and across said guideway to fold a strip oftin in said guideway and to push the folded strip out of the guidewayand into the slot at the reciprocation of the blade while the means formoving the strip along the guideway is inactive.

6. In a machine for trimming and folding thin strips of sheet metal, afolder construction having a reciprocating blade and being adapted todischarge the folded strips upwardly, a feeder construction having ocillating rollers, the axes of which are parallel with the line ofreciprocation, and a cutter discharging to the feeder.

7. In a machine for trimming and folding thin strips of sheet metal, afolder having a reciprocating blade and being adapted to discharge thefolded strips upwardly, and a feeder having oscillating rollers, theaxes of which are parallel with the line of reciprocation.

8. In a machine for folding tin strips, the combination with a folder,of two rollers provided with main bodies adapted to engage the edges ofa flat strip, and also provided with rims of larger diameter toengagethe sides of the strip when folded, so that the folded strip will bemoved along more rapidly by the rollers than will the unfolded strip,said rollers being yieldingly held to engage the stri and to allow thesame to be folded into the space between the rims.

9. The combination in a tin strip folding machine having a slot throughwhich the folded strip may be moved; a folder; means to reciprocate thefolder in the slot, rollers having faces to engage the edges of a flattin strip 1n the path of the folder, and circular rims 'projectin towardeach other; means to Y yieldingly 1101 the rollers toward each other andto allow the flat strip to be folded into 15 position in said slot; saidrims being adapted to engage the sides of the folded strip; and means torotate the rollers.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles,California, this 20 20th day of January, 1917.

GUSTAF KLANG.

Witness:

JAMES R. TOWNSEND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0."

